Growing Pains: Stuck on Excel
Finance staffers might think every business decision requires an Excel spreadsheet, just as to a person with a hammer, everything is a nail. The so-called “law of the instrument” refers to using one familiar tool for all purposes, even when it’s not the best solution.
For CFOs, it’s a reminder. Corporate finance departments default to Excel to perform many functions and perform them well. But there’s always the potential to overlook and ignore better tools.
Excel is ubiquitous, inexpensive, easy to learn, and highly customizable. CFO detailed its continued strengths in the first story of this series, Why Does Excel Survive in Finance Departments? However, developers of purpose-built applications often argue the king of spreadsheets is on its way out. Read more on CFO.com.
